Carlton Francis was right when he said gambling was no way to develop a new nation... ...previous political, community and church leaders have failed Bahamians by introducing gambling in The Bahamas... says Bishop Cedric Moss - senior pastor at the Kingdom Life Church

Pastors Calling For All Gambling To Be Outlawed

By KHRISNA VIRGIL and  RASHAD ROLLE
Tribune Staff Reporters
kvirgil@tribunemedia.net



AS the Bahamas Christian Council hits out at the government for rushing a gambling referendum, some local pastors are taking it one step further and calling for all gambling participation – including the participation of tourists in casinos – to be outlawed.

Bishop Cedric Moss, senior pastor at the Kingdom Life Church, has joined the debate on the legalisation of gambling and given it a new twist.

Speaking to The Big T, Bishop Moss said that civic and religious leaders failed the country when they allowed casino gambling to be introduced in 1973.

“Carlton Francis was right when he said gambling was no way to develop a new nation,” he said, adding that he believed “previous leaders and church leaders failed us by introducing gambling in our country.”

Bishop Moss said: “Bahamians are not hurt by gambling. Tourists are hurt by gambling. They are financially raped by casinos. I am saddened that we loose casinos on them to harm them and their families.”

Speaking about the effects of gambling, he said: “You just have to Google and see the negative effects gambling has on cities like Atlantic City which allow gambling. Bahamians gambling has a different affect on the Bahamas than tourists gambling in the Bahamas. What Bahamians don’t realise is that many tourists who gamble in our casinos don’t want casinos in their cities.”

“The government has ignored the church on this issue since 1973. We are opposed to all forms of gambling, including numbers and casino gambling. I think we should think thoughtfully on how we could legally bring casino gambling to a close. It was a bad decision in the beginning. To let Bahamians gamble in casinos would be another bad decision.”

Another pastor, Rev Rex Major, said casino gambling is undesirable for the country.

“The remarks by Carlton Francis during the voting on the Opposition’s resolution in condemning the government’s casino policy should set the tone for our national priorities,” he said.

“At that time, Mr Francis reminded the Parliamentarians and the nation that he thought that as a new nation, the country should first aspire for certain other qualities rather than dollars and cents value. Gambling encourages a reckless parasitic approach to life—in which one human fleeces another with no genuine personal regard for his neighbour’s welfare.”

Rev Matthew Allen, senior pastor at the Kingdom Minded Fellowship Centre International, said that while he is against gambling, he also disapproves of the hypocrisy religious leaders have exhibited.

“It’s pathetic, nauseating listening to the religious leaders of today trying to scripturally justify their opposition to gambling, whereas it’s some of these very same religious leaders who are called upon to say the opening prayer and pronounce blessing upon various resorts and casinos. How hypocritical could one be?”

Meanwhile, the Bahamas Christian Council (BCC) is hitting out at the government for focusing on gambling legislation at a time when the country is facing so many pressing national issues.

BCC president Rev Ranford Patterson said yesterday that reducing crime and focusing on the country’s economy should be priorities for the Christie administration, and not seeking to expedite a gambling vote which would cost taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars.

His words came amid public speculation about the driving force behind the government’s urgency to see referendum plans through to completion. Controversy has also surrounded the level of its thoroughness, as Bahamians having the right to gamble in casinos has been dismissed.

“We are opposed to gambling in this country in any capacity. I believe there are so many more pressing issues that need our attention along with social ills. I always hear people speak about this $40 million to be gained by the numbers business, but I am of the firm belief that we would need to spend more on law enforcement to police this thing properly.

“Do you know how many people would spend all they had to gamble? Social Services would need more resources to help people. The Christian Council is here to present the fact and people should be made aware of implications as a result of making this thing legal,” Rev Patterson said.

Two weeks ago, a Baha Mar executive told The Tribune that in his view Bahamians have not matured enough to be permitted to gamble in local casinos.

Robert “Sandy” Sands, senior vice-president of external and governmental affairs at Baha Mar, said that while he supports regularising number houses, he is not an advocate of Bahamians being allowed to gamble in casinos.

“I am a strong advocate of limited relaxation for Bahamians gambling in casinos. I believe the government should examine the opportunity for high net worth for persons who can verify their ability to sustain gambling for limited periods like over a month or something like that.

“I support gambling for persons who come on short-term work permits, especially in the entertainment business.

“I also support gambling for persons of high net worth who have permanent residency in the country and people with second homes,” he said.

“However, I do not support opening the floodgates totally. We are not a disciplined enough community. I understand rights, but there are some rights we have to take away from individuals for their own benefit. We have to find the balance and even with the liberalisation of the number houses there might be an opportunity where numbers may be able to be purchased through a window at the casino. But no, I do not support Bahamians gambling in the casino.”

On Thursday, former Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham criticised the government for not giving Bahamians the opportunity to decide whether they should participate in casino gambling.

“The public of the Bahamas ought to have a right to decide whether they want to gamble in the casino or not,” he said.

July 20, 2012

Tribune242 

Caribbean Blog International

Kenyatta Gibson tells the Carlton Francis' anti-gambling beliefs story

Gibson tells the Carlton Francis story
tribune242 editorial:



DURING the Budget debate, Kennedy MP Kenyatta Gibson, in putting the case for legalising gambling, told the tragic story of the political churchman who sacrificed himself to support his church's anti-gambling beliefs.

The irony was that the church never assisted him or protested his fall. Instead it became a firm supporter of the very government that had condemned their brother. It was the government that had introduced the evil that Baptists claimed they abhorred. Baptist churchmen took the position that neither they, nor their members, would ever support a government that depended on gambling as a source of national income.

Mr Gibson was, of course, referring to the late Carlton Francis, once Minister of Finance in the Pindling government, who was also a lay preacher in the Baptist church. Although Mr Gibson did not name the denomination to which he referred, he was talking of the Baptists. Because of the large vote the church controls at election time, all governments have been loath to take them on over one of the strictest tenants of their faith. Gambling is a capital sin which the church claims it will not tolerate, nor permit the indulgence of its members.

We recall the election of '67 when the PLP came to power for the first time. Just days before Bahamians were to go to the polls, the PLP sent in a release for publication. If the UBP were returned to power, it said, it would mean the extension of casino gambling. This was not true. As a matter of fact it was an unfair lie, because Sir Roland Symonette, this country's first premier, who was a staunch Methodist, was personally opposed to gambling. No such plan was on his party's agenda.

However, it spooked the Baptist community and, of course, churchmen stepped up their political opposition. There was hardly time to deny the story because Bahamians were getting ready to go to the polls. It was only with a PLP government, said the release, that Bahamians could be assured that gambling would be kept out of this country.

The PLP, of course, won the day, but it was not long afterwards that casino gambling was introduced and flourished in the Bahamas. And it was only six years after the PLP came to power that Mr Francis was put in the awkward position of having to choose between his government and his conscience. The issue was gambling. Here the politician had to give way to the conscience of the Baptist preacher. He voted against his government on the gambling issue and in 1973 had to resign from the Pindling cabinet.

That was bad enough, but a vindictive prime minister never forgave him his mortal sin. Thrown on the political trash heap, Mr Francis was hounded from pillar to post. A respected teacher before he entered politics, he could not get a job at the College of the Bahamas. As a matter of fact, he found it difficult after that to make a living.

As he crossed the street at one of Sir Lynden's political meetings, the "Chief" looked down from his lofty dais, spotted his former finance minister and sneered that there went Carlton Francis, but all he could see was a three-piece suit. It was true, Mr Francis then dying of cancer, was a shell of his former self and all one could see was a baggy suit. The crowd jeered. It was cruel.

But where was his church, which had declared that it would never support a government that got its revenue from gambling? Mr Gibson said that in his research, he could not find that Mr Francis' church came to his support when, having been abandoned by his party, he decided to run for parliament from the South Beach constituency. Of course, with his party against him and no help from his church, he lost the contest.

Mr Gibson said that "the record will show that they abandoned him and quickly realigned themselves with the same political party which he had abandoned on their behalf."

And, said Mr Gibson, "to complicate this issue many leading Churchmen of the day then accepted positions of significance from the same political party which had expanded casino gambling. These princes and princesses now piously sat as secretary generals and parliamentarians in the political organization which had ushered in the very same expansion, which they previously had vociferously argued against...

"And so the question begs an answer," said Mr Gibson, "what did they do for the Prince of their Church, Carlton Elisha Francis who sided with his Church on the gambling issue and gave up his cabinet portfolio? Absolutely nothing. The man could not even get the pastorship of a recognizable Church in this denomination."

Mr Gibson revived this bit of history to advise Bahamians to hold their own counsel in what they believed was best for them and their families and not be guided by special interest groups.

In the debate on whether gambling -- the numbers game -- should be made legal, he said the "people have the inalienable right to choose for themselves."

Mr Gibson ended his presentation in the House with a quote from Mr Francis: "They who stand on the sand banks of history trying to hold back the tide will be swept up in the flood gates of insurrection."

tribune242 editorial

Bahamas Blog International